General Kazuki Kiyoji, commander of the First Army Corps, shook his head and said: "Okamura-kun, Tanabe-kun, I am very much in favor of the Eighth Route Army's anti-Japanese base area can be destroyed by the headquarters of the Japanese Imperial Army in North China to carry out an unprecedented autumn sweep of the Beiyue District of the Eighth Route Army.

It's just that for Fuping, a small land, where the land is barren, the grain harvest is poor, and the people of China are strong in the hilly and mountainous areas, why do you need to use such a large force? I think that by sending an elite independent mixed brigade, it is completely possible to defeat the Jin-Cha-Ji troops of the Eighth Route Army and occupy Fuping in one go. ”

General Okamura Ninji said sarcastically: "Kazuki-kun, I admire your bold ideas, and I also admire your courage to be vulnerable to the troops of the Eighth Route Army, but our Imperial Japanese Army occupied China at that time, and the senior officials of the empire vowed to occupy China in three months and implement the common prosperity of Greater East Asia, but now?

Now a few years have passed, since we entered North China, although we have occupied some large and medium-sized cities and grasped the lifeline of transportation, some county seats, towns and most villages are still in the hands of the Eighth Route Army.

Due to the arrogance of the generals of the Imperial Army, the weapons were rudimentary, the ammunition was scarce, and the food, cloth and cotton and the materials needed for the troops could not be replenished, and the Eighth Route Army, known as 'millet plus rifles', did not pay attention to it at all, and arrogantly called the Eighth Route Army the 'Eighth Route Army'.

However, at 22 o'clock on August 20 of this year, that is, in the 12th year of Showa (1940), the generals despised the Tuba Road, which was called 'millet plus rifles', and launched a battle of 100 regiments on Zhengtai Road, destroying and destroying important facilities such as strongholds, stations, bridges, culverts, and other important facilities of the Imperial Army along our railways and highways and in the outer extensions.

The destruction of the Jingcheng and Yangshuo coal mines occupied by our Imperial Japanese Army, these important communication lines and resource bases, were all destroyed within a few hours, and the Japanese troops in our strongholds suffered unprecedented blows and suffered heavy casualties, and almost all the strongholds occupied by the Imperial Army near the outer railroad perimeter were lost. ”

The generals of the corps, divisions, and brigades of the Japanese North China Front present listened to Commander Okamura Ninji unceremoniously targeting them and saying such merciless words, including sarcasm, ridicule, and contempt.

General Kazuki Kiyoji, the commander of the First Army Corps, who was sitting on pins and needles, was constantly changing when Commander Okamura said that his face was constantly changing, he really couldn't sit still, Huo stood up and asked in an unkind tone: "Okamura-kun, what do you mean, the commanders of the Imperial Japanese Army in North China, including you, are they dealing with the many battles of the Eighth Route Army in North China, and the Imperial Army has not achieved any results, and they have all lost battles, right?" ”

"Xiangyue-kun, what do you think?"

"Hahaha, joke, I, Kazuki Kiyoji, think that the commanders of the North China Front of the Imperial Japanese Army, together with the generals here, not only dealt a heavy blow to the Shina troops on the frontal battlefield, forcing them to sit at the negotiating table for peace talks, and the results were outstanding, that is, behind the enemy lines occupied by the Imperial Army, the Eighth Route Army was cleaned up and swept many times, the base areas of the Eighth Route Army were destroyed, and the new occupied areas of the Imperial Japanese Army were established, and our generals achieved outstanding results, Okamura-kun, isn't it?"

"Ryūxi, Kazuki-kun, I admire your outspokenness very much, and I admire you even more for the 'results' achieved by the Imperial Japanese Army at present, and this kind of judgment is not made by a soldier.

But you know? In the Pacific theater and in the occupied areas of Southeast Asia, the Imperial Japanese Army was short of troops, unable to replenish supplies, and was struggling, friendly support was unfavorable, and the Imperial Army's various battlefields were frequently in emergency. In addition, the United States, Europe, and the Soviet Union are exerting pressure on our imperial army from multiple battlefields with an overwhelming momentum, resulting in frequent defeats in external battlefields.

In the battlefield of China, the Imperial Japanese Army has so far invested 53 divisions and regiments, more than 1.1 million imperial soldiers, and 620,000 frontal battlefields, and other troops are scattered in other battlefields and occupied urban and rural strongholds.

In the Battle of the Hundred Regiments launched by the Eighth Route Army, the Imperial Army of our empire invested 250,000 troops, plus the Imperial Allied Army of 150,000, with a total of 400,000 troops to counterattack the Eighth Route Army's sabotage battle. This is the result that Xiangyue-kun said? It's ridiculous. ”

Commander Okamura Ninji unceremoniously criticized General Kazuki Kiyoji's boasting, his tone was so harsh, his words were sarcastic, and the examples were clear, and he blushed when he said it, but he was powerless to refute it.

Chief of Staff Tanabe Moritake looked at Commander Okamura Ninji, and criticized General Kazuki Kiyoji mercilessly for the first time in front of his subordinates, in front of his subordinates, and he, the chief of staff of the Japanese North China Front, rolled his cunning little eyes, and saw Kazuki Kiyoji's angry face to face against his boss, and his heart trembled violently, in the face of this great enemy, it is not a good thing for two tigers to fight.

He stood up and pretended to be calm and said: "Commander Okamura has analyzed and summarized the current situation very wisely, and at present, only by working together and sincerely uniting in our Imperial Japanese Army can we eliminate the cunning and rampant Eighth Route Army.

In the later stage of the Eighth Route Army's Hundred Regiment Battle, the commander of the Xiangyue Army recognized the situation and actively responded, forcing the Eighth Route Army to retreat on the front line of Zhengtai Road.

At present, just as Commander Okamura Ninji said, it is necessary to concentrate superior forces and launch the most ferocious sweep against the Beiyue District of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, completely destroy the government of the border area of the Eighth Route Army in the Beiyue District, occupy Fuping, take Fuping as the center, radiate outward, and expand the area occupied by the Imperial Army, so as to drive the Eighth Route Army into the Taihang Mountains.

If we then adopt the form of blockade and sweep to trap the remnants of the Eighth Route Army in the mountains, the Imperial Army will be able to take the initiative in North China, maintain law and order in the theater, and eliminate the remnants of the Eighth Route Army. ”

General Okamura Ninji stood in front of the map and issued the most frantic 'sweep' order to the corps, divisions, and brigades to launch the most frantic 'sweep' in the Beiyue District of the Eighth Route Army.

The Japanese troops assembled from Baoding, Quyang, Laiyuan, and Tang counties, under the command of General Katayama, commander of the Fourth Brigade, rendezvoused at Xishan, close to the military city, and launched an attack on the Fifth Regiment of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, which was holding its position in Xishan.

After more than five hours of fierce fighting, the Fifth Regiment successfully completed the task of blocking the vanguard of the Japanese army, and under the favorable conditions of Gong Gong, deputy commander of the cavalry battalion of the only regiment, and the second cavalry company leading the second cavalry company to harass and contain the enemy, it smoothly retreated to the position of the north mountain of the military city where the only regiment was ambushed, and as a general reserve, repaired on the rear slope of the north mountain.

Li Gang, the acting commander of the only regiment, sent Song Chun, the commander of the fourth battalion, to lead a company to rush halfway up the mountain and attack the vanguard of the Japanese army near the north mountain.

The enemy followed closely behind, frantically rushing to the front of the front position of the fourth battalion of the only regiment, Li Gang ordered the left and right flanks not to expose the target, and acted as the fourth battalion of the frontal counterattack, repelling the enemy's attack with maximum firepower.

Under the strong fire of the 4th Battalion, the Japanese army fled down the mountain in a hurry.

The battalion commanders of the only regiment were angry that Li Gang did not use the second and third battalions of the two flanks to encircle and annihilate them, and rushed to Li Gang to make trouble.

The commander of the enemy's Katayama Brigade, seeing that it was getting late, and not knowing the strength and firepower of the Eighth Route Army's position in the north mountain of the military city, decisively ordered the troops to camp on the spot, strengthen vigilance, and launch an attack on the Eighth Route Army's Beishan position at 5 o'clock in the morning.

Li Gang sat in the forward position, looking at the cloudy sky, without a trace of starlight, the entire Beishan Mountain position was in pitch black.

He looked up at the sky aimlessly, and saw nothing, only feeling that the sky was like a cauldron on top of his head, and the people who were detained below were so depressed that people couldn't breathe.

Li Gang's vague figure was swallowed up by the night, and it was not easy to find a person sitting at the front of the position without touching it.

At this time, a vague figure carefully groped his feet to approach Li Gang, Li Gang was immersed in unspeakable thoughts, and he didn't feel it at all.

Suddenly, someone patted him on the shoulder, Li Gang grabbed the hand on the shoulder with his shocked backhand, and was about to knock down the person behind him with a little effort, and suddenly a low shout came from behind: "Acting head Li, it's me Ma Mingshan." ”

Ma Mingshan approached Li Gang and sat down, neither of them wanted to talk for a while, and after five or six minutes, Ma Mingshan said in a low voice: "Li Gang, do you want to be the head of the Thunder Sword?" ”

"Yes, during every major war, Commander Lei Jian has to leave the army to personally get close to the enemy camp to investigate, when I led the cavalry battalion to carry out the mission, there was Commander Lei in charge, and I was never worried in my heart, but now Commander Lei's life and death are unknown, my Li Gang has a pain in my heart, this is about to start a big battle with the enemy, I ......."

(End of chapter)